In U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 2261, filed Jan. 10, 1979, and partly corresponding European Patent Application Ser. No. 79 100 027, a deflecting apparatus has been proposed in which a plurality of deflecting means form a deflecting face along which articles selected according to a specific criterion are deflected from a first path of travel to a second path of travel. The deflecting means build up only a part of the entire deflecting surface at a time, namely, the part which, immediately thereafter, contacts the article to be deflected. The deflecting surface spans the entire width of the first path of travel or conveyor. Once selected articles have been deflected by the first part of the deflecting face or by the first deflecting means to such an extent that they can be pushed onto the second conveyor by successive articles, the last part of the deflecting face or the last deflecting means can remain inoperative. In lieu of extensible deflecting segments, the deflecting means may consist of gas nozzles of which only those are set in operation which confront articles being deflected at any given time. In this known deflecting apparatus, the operating speed, and thus the maximum admissible speed of the first conveyor, is limited by the period of time required for extension and retraction of the deflecting segments or by the intensity of the gas nozzles. Moreover, when gas nozzles are employed as deflecting means, the intensity of the gas jet must be controlled in relation to the weight of the articles.
Consequently, it is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for lateral deflection of articles selected according to a specific criterion from a first path of travel to a second path of travel at an especially high operating speed and an especially high article conveying speed.
This object is realized by imparting to the articles being deflected a velocity component which is directed transversely of the direction of travel of the first path of travel. This velocity component is imparted by a deflecting means whose deflecting face extends over only part of the width of the first path of travel. This velocity component can be imparted also by gas nozzles. The velocity component must be sufficiently high in order that the article completely moves over to the second path of travel or conveyor during the last phase of the deflection, owing to its inertia.
The advantages achievable by the invention reside especially in the fact that, the higher the deflecting speed, the less does the deflecting face formed by the deflecting means extend transversely across the first conveyor. It is surprising that even at high speeds a well defined transverse acceleration can be imparted to unstable articles of various weights and with various centers of gravity without overturning them. Hence, after said articles have left the diverting apparatus, their stability is dependent only on the sliding characteristics of the conveyors. Owing to the short actuating periods a higher operating speed and greater safety is achieved than with deflecting apparatuses where the articles are guided by a deflecting face during the entire deflecting operation.